Kentucky Kingdom Begins Teasing #ANewStory

It’s officially time to start going off the deep end with speculation as Kentucky Kingdom has begun teasing something (likely a new addition?) on social media.

https://twitter.com/KentuckyKingdom/status/1362076359456141313

On posts across Kentucky Kingdom’s social channels, the park presented a map that was overlaid by six question marks and the tagline, #ANewStory. As we do (far too often) at Coaster101, let’s go deep inside the tease to see if there’s anything we’re able to decipher worth deciphering.

(Yes, it could be a coincidence and it all could mean nothing, but that’s a risk we’re willing to take.)

Let’s get the obvious out of the way here. These question marks very likely indicate a date. I would imagine that the final two question marks will be revealed to say “21,” and this is the date that we’ll get the announcement. No clue on the actual date, but that maple leaf in the top left corner could indicate a potential fall announcement. (It makes sense, given that’s when parks typically make announcements.)

#ANewStory is interesting. If I was a betting man, I would say that it has nothing to do with last year’s April Fool’s Joke that the park would be adding additional feet to Deep Water Dive in order to reclaim the title of world’s tallest drop slide. But what could “A New Story” mean? Some ideas.

• Adding height to something. Seems impractical.
• A new film in Kentucky Kingdom’s 4-D Theater. This seems extremely unlikely to warrant such a tease.
• Breathing new life into a classic attraction. Kentucky Kingdom is no stranger to this, having RMC’d the park’s former Twisted Twins wooden coaster into the all-new Storm Chaser.
• Something different entirely.

Let’s look at the map in the social media posts.

What we see in image is a weathered map, with a fall maple leaf in the top left corner and a piece of wood in the bottom right. Kentucky Kingdom’s last major addition was Kentucky Flyer, a gravity group family coaster that opened in 2019. Could whatever is being teased also be wooden?

The map has a compass rose, and eight points of interest that are triangulated to a central location. At first glance, it appears to be a map of the United States (basing this assumption on the depiction of North Carolina’s outer banks, the Delmarva Peninsula, and Long Island. Florida is cut off.)

Logically, the central point among these 8 landmarks is going to be Kentucky Kingdom. It’s their park we’re teasing here, and makes sense geographically on the map. This could be a stretch at this point, but let’s assume the other circled points on the map are also theme parks. Based on a quick mapping of several parks, I’ve determined that there’s a dot approximately at the following other parks:

• Alabama Adventure
• Dollywood
• Kentucky Kingdom
• Kings Island
• Magic Springs OR Silver Dollar City? (My cartography skills aren’t great.)
• Six Flags Great Adventure
• Six Flags Over Georgia
• Six Flags Over Texas

When trying to connect the dots between these parks, it’s tough to come up with a common denominator at first glance, however, between many of these parks, there’s been some ride swapping over the years (Chang between Kentucky Kingdom and Great Adventure, Big Bad John between Dollywood and Magic Springs, Greezed Lightnin’ between Kentucky Kingdom and Six Flags Over Georgia, to name a few — many coasters that had “New Stories” at their new parks.)

After a year that could be “interesting” to say the least, could Kentucky Kingdom be snatching up a former ride from another park? Could there be another common tie-in between all these parks that we’re missing?

According to @CorkscrewConvos on Twitter, there could also be a potential Herschend Entertainment connection, as many of the dots also coordinate with Herschend properties.

Things that make you go 🤔 @screamscape @OnlineHyde @Coaster101 @DrewTheIntern @parkscopejoe @InTheLoopLegend @coasterradio @coasterstudios @CoasterForce @Midway_Mayhem https://t.co/nrYVNEuFsS pic.twitter.com/9zUYXHdBGv

— Corkscrew Convos (@CorkscrewConvos) February 17, 2021

Rather than Frontier City, we think the furthest west dot could be Hawaiian Falls, a water park that was developed by Herschend, sold, purchased and sold again.  Is Kentucky Kingdom, who enjoys trolling enthusiasts from time to time, throwing out a complete red herring to send us down the rabbit hole?

If you can think of something, let us know below or hit us up on social media. Otherwise, we’ll see what future teases have in store!

Tags: kentucky kingdomNew for 2022teaseteaser